Illustration tales and much more

Halloween Series + “The Spirit” Illustration

Hello and welcome back. Today’s spooky illustration is a spirit, a bloody spirit. I put a lot of effort in the design of this character as well as in its personality, so let us get on with the story so you can enjoy all of her:

Halloween 2017 – The Spirit

She cannot talk, therefore, let me be the one to tell her tale. Shani is a silent spirit living in the depths of the jungle. Alone, she wanders every night, all night, right after the sun has hidden. Animals do not like her and the plants almost wither when she is near, all because they can sense the danger emanating from her.

Yes, she is a very dangerous ghost but she has never once harmed an animal nor touched a single plant, then why do they despise her so much, you might ask. Because of what she has done and still does. Every night she goes out of her dark corner and flows towards a nearby village or city, to try and hypnotize one person and lead it to the core of the jungle, back to her home. There, she slowly and meticulously devours it alive. She does not do this because she is hungry nor because she is cruel, but because she is mute. Being someone that could never make any sound lead her to become fascinated and obsessed with noises, in particular, those coming from the human throat. The louder the voice, the more she enjoys it. Her absolute favorites are screams of fear, horror, agony, and pain. That is why she devours them so very slowly and meticulously, just like you would play a difficult instrument.

This is not because she hates silence. When she wanders in the jungle she encounters it many times and is not bothered by it, what is more, she loves quietness. It has always been by her side, inside her, in fact. I even dare to say that she hates noises that are not done by her, sometimes it can even drive her crazy mad. Animals do not dare to approach her because they know that if they make a single noise near her, she will crush them; whether it is a tiny bird or a huge tiger.

How is it that I know all of this? Because I am one of her victims. But I always heard that dead people tell no tales, so how is it that you now know about this?

Now that you are bit creeped out with her story, let us talk about how it was done. It was a pain. I redid the whole sketch twice, but as always, it was worth it. I also changed her story while doing so. She was supposed to be one spirit among other that capture human souls and then she became a lonesome spirit that is mute and tortures so she can hear the human voice. Quite the change, right? (Btw, Shani is actually very innocent).

The story changed this much, not only because the character itself changed, but also because I changed the idea for the background. I must say, most of the Halloween stories are not decided until I do the backgrounds, so yeah, once I decided I would do a temple in the jungle, the rest was clear.

God, is it just me? Because I love the aesthetics a lot, and the tattoos are just, wow. I mean, I designed the full tattoo, front and back view and I really put a lot of thought in her whole design. There is not a single aspect of her that lacks a purpose. Everything is as it is for something. More than in any other character I have done, probably.

Sadly, a part of the recording got corrupted or something and could not be included in the video, and believe me I tried all I could to fix it (with more than 7 methods). I saddens me so much to not be able to see the full process, because I love doing so and I really wanted to see the process of this particular illustration. Anyway, that is all for today.

♥ Thanks for reading today’s post, do not forget to check the time lapse video, even if it is not complete, and see you next week with more. Have a good weekend and enjoy all the fall stuffs. ♥